This invention relates to a system and method for processing and directing responses to emotions and more particularly to a system and method for guiding the next step adaptive behavior of an individual.
Personal decision making, and living life in general, is practiced as art not science. Individuals frequently falter and fail in striving for satisfaction, meaning, and fulfillment. Personal and social progress is slow. Ineffectiveness and inefficiency in decision making, and in relating to and communicating with others and even oneself, are prevailing and critical social problems.
On the other hand, people tend to believe in themselves and, at times, people in general. Many imagine, advocate, and seek a deeper level of relationship and communication with other people and themselves. Beyond everyday reflections, meditations, conversations, dialogues, brainstormings and debates, many seek guidance from the self-help resources available, including books, tapes, reality entertainment, internet search engines, coursework, seminars, and retreats. Many also seek guidance from professional counselors and coaches.
However, one fundamental set of obstacles stands in the way of the above, widespread, natural, but typically flawed and even doomed endeavors. Consciousness is not up to the task. Consciousness commonly overthinks and underthinks, overfeels and underfeels, and overacts and underacts. Consciousness cannot easily, accurately, or reliably see subconsciousness. This is unfortunate but due to two important realities: (1) uncontrolled, irrelevant emotional biases dull and retard consciousness and conscious self-report, and (2) the personal truth for each individual exists at the level of subconsciousness.
While personal truths are the golden fleece and brass ring for which to strive, understanding and accounting for the uncontrolled, irrelevant emotional biases residing within each individual is equally important if one wished to set up a system and method to guide next step adaptive behavior.
These uncontrolled, irrelevant emotional biases are caused by environmental clutter, interpersonal noise, and the individual respondent's own baseline personality state (mood) and trait (temperament) emotionality at the time of his or her response. These biases, particularly the latter, are typically overlooked in ordinary efforts to determine the truths within individuals. These biases block deep, whole, true insight generation, and thus dull and retard personal decision making, relationship building, and resolution of communication gaps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,934 issued to Snyder describes a system and method for clarifying emotional responses by removing extraneous (motivationally irrelevant) biases which otherwise dominate emotional responses and consciousness itself. Such clarified emotional responses are currently being aggregated and collated for understanding populations and teams, respectively. Another possible use of clarified emotions is to use such information about emotions to understand and guide the future behavior of individuals. For example, such information could be used to help an individual decide how to act in a particular situation faced by the individual. An example of potential use of this system and method could be a case of a good man with many near relatives who is challenged to figure out what to do with the extended family's deceased grandfather's farm, which he has inherited and lives on as his primary residence. The question is ‘How does SELLING THE FARM make you feel?’
An interactive process to engage and guide people in the generation of insight to motivate and inspire next step adaptive behavior would be a useful tool for people in many walks of life. If such a tool is made available on the internet, the inherent versatility and scalability of technology, coupled with the inherent actionability of the information herein described, means such a system and method can: (1) offer access to the widest range of people; (2) engage men and women, young and old, educated and uneducated, in any language; (3) support a wide range of personal applications; (4) supply archive and retrieval services; (5) ensure security, privacy, and confidentiality, along with authorized access to personal results; and (6) support two-person dialogues around results and recorded insights.
It is therefore the principal object of the present invention is to provide a system and method to guide next step adaptive behavior.
It is further object of the present invention to convert clarified emotional responses into information which can be used to guide next step adaptive behavior.